Fitzpatrick holds public forum as polls show Congress' public approval ratings at historic lows.

WASHINGTON — Under an outdoor pavilion on a mild Monday evening, a middle-aged homemaker stood up in the back of the crowd and told her congressman she doesn't feel she's being represented in Washington.

A Republican, she expressed frustration because most of the decision-making during the health care debate happened behind closed doors. She'd hoped it would be different when her party took control of the U.S. House, but said meetings on big issues remain out of public view.

"I feel like I'm voting you in and they're shutting you out, so therefore they're shutting me out," Julia Hufford, 57, of Springfield Township, told U.S. Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-8th District. "It's not enough for me that you get to vote at the end."

Hufford wasn't alone. Nearly 150 constituents lined park benches in upper Bucks County for a 90-minute public forum with Fitzpatrick, who represents Bucks and part of Montgomery County. Many issues were discussed — health care, student loans, Social Security — but what motivated each speaker was the same: frustration.

Congress' public approval ratings are at historic lows, with an unprecedented 84 percent of Americans unimpressed with the work, or lack of it, on Capitol Hill. Fitzpatrick has been the only federal lawmaker in the region to hold town hall meetings over the August break away from Washington. Others, including Republican U.S. Reps. Charlie Dent and Lou Barletta, and U.S. Sens. Bob Casey, a Democrat, and Pat Toomey, a Republican, have met with constituents in more controlled environments, such as round table discussions with business leaders, or on the fly at picnics and other events.

Spokesmen for Dent and Barletta said they haven't ruled out holding town halls later in the month, but none has been scheduled. Toomey's office said it has some set for the end of the month. Casey, who stayed an extra week in Washington to hold a jobs hearing and is spending a week in the Middle East, may have some as well.

It's certainly not an easy time to face voters. After months of wrangling over whether to raise the nation's debt limit, a last-minute deal was agreed to and rushed to a vote. Lawmakers then left Washington for five weeks, leaving behind an unfinished 2012 budget and stagnant unemployment.

Before Monday's town hall, Tony Polito, 66, of Springtown, approached Fitzpatrick to vent about the debt ceiling stalemate. "This is the wrong time to hold the American people hostage," he told the congressman.

"These are like gangs fighting against each other and the public be damned," Polito said after talking to Fitzpatrick. Polito, who said he cast votes for Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in previous elections, is fed up with both major political parties. When asked if he'd support Obama again, Polito shrugged, "As opposed to who?"

Jim Ziegenfuss, 67, held photocopies of a handwritten 11-point list for Fitzpatrick that included: "Stop All $ Going to Oil Co's" and "Provide Healthcare for All!" A Democrat, Ziegenfuss said he feels there's no one in Washington fighting for working Americans. Obama, in his view, has not been assertive enough.

Ziegenfuss, who works in construction — one of the hardest hit economic sectors — said business is terrible. There's no work, he said. "We're all caught with our pants down," he said. "I wish there was a stronger working-person party."

After the event, Hufford said she was "very grateful" her husband's two layoffs were relatively short-term — one 10 weeks, the other five weeks. She's learned to be "thrifty."

A lower-middle class couple told Fitzpatrick they could not get anything less than 7.9 percent interest on a college loan for their daughter to attend Millersville University near Lancaster. They felt as if their government had forgotten them.

Another woman said the community bank wouldn't give her husband a loan for his small business. She blamed federal government regulations, namely the 2009 financial reform law, for causing financial uncertainty.

Fitzpatrick, toeing the GOP line of promoting spending cuts while not raising taxes, told the crowd that job creation is the best revenue-generator for the government. "If I cast any vote on the floor that's not designed to some pro-growth policy to permit people to get back to work," he said, "I'm not doing my job on your behalf."

Standing on the periphery of a circle formed around Fitzpatrick after the event, Temple University senior Dominick Lebo, a political science major, was listening. A moderate Republican, he's generally unimpressed with Obama's leadership, saying he doesn't believe the president has shown an ability to bridge dissent in Congress.

Lebo, who supports GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul this time around, voted for Obama in 2008. "It was the thing to do," he said.

But all the negativity about federal politics hasn't made Lebo cynical. Asked what he'd like to do when he graduates, Lebo said maybe he'd move to Washington and work for Fitzpatrick.